Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro

by Rachel Slade

Due to uncertainty, prudent mariners follow the 3-2-1 rule: Three days ahead of a hurricane’s forecasted position, stay three hundred miles away; two days ahead, keep out of a two-hundred-mile radius of its projected center; one day ahead, stay one hundred miles away from its eye in all directions. The rule is based on the fact that hurricane paths are erratic and unpredictable, so it’s smart to give the system a wide berth.

International codes required all ships built after 1986 to have enclosed lifeboats; the watertight vessels look like small, bulbous submarines.

It was the “small government, pro-business” crowd that had systematically undermined the coast guard’s ability to properly regulate America’s commercial fleet.

Ultimately, it’s a small price to pay for a standing quasi-navy, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, which made all the difference during World War II when the US government conscripted America’s merchant fleet and seamen to transport troops and munitions to Europe under risk of U-boat fire. This was exceptionally dangerous work; the US Merchant Marine suffered more casualties than any other military division in the war.

“The word ‘experienced’ often refers to someone who has gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have.”

It should go without saying that the researchers working at the European center embrace science and are supported by an international community that values evidence-based conclusions. Make no mistake—no one spends a minute there debating whether climate change is real. Few American politicians understand the importance of NOAA’s work—the parent agency of the NWS. Politicians see it as an easily cut line item. After all, who are its constituents? A few scientists with their satellites, Hurricane Hunters, and weather balloons seem like a colossal waste of money. What’s more, their data—which presents incontestable proof that oceans and the atmosphere are warming at alarming rates—is an affront to climate-change deniers.